A. Field of the Invention.
The present invention relates to food dishes for pets. More particularly, the invention relates to pet food dishes incorporating means for inhibiting insects from contacting food contained in the dish.
B. Discussion of Background Art.
Many people feed their pets, such as cats and dogs, outdoors. This is sometimes done as a matter of course, or occasionally, as when one has a neighbor come into the backyard to feed the family dog or cat while the animal's master is away.
Unfortunately, food in pet dishes placed outdoors attracts flying and crawling insects such as house flies, ants and roaches Aside from constituting an irritant to the more fastidious pets, insects attracted to the animal's food dish can transmit diseases, both to the animal and even to humans. Accordingly, it would be desirable to minimize the number of insects which are able to contact food in a pet's dish.
Examples of prior art of devices intended to support food dishes and having integral insect-trapping means include U.S. Pat. No. 52,576, issued Feb. 13, 1866 to Lamb for a Dish Stand having a coaxial water cup to trap ants and other insects U.S. Pat. No. 133,763, issued Dec. 10, 1872 to Curtis for Insect Traps discloses a support for food articles having a basin for water and other liquids coaxially mounted on a standard between a base and top piece, the liquid preventing vermin from reaching food articles on the top piece.
Examples of insect traps not incorporated into food dishes include the following U.S. patents: Matthews, 552,644,Jan. 7, 1896, Insect Trap; Rothweiler, 713,803, Nov. 18, 1902, Insect Trap, Mishimura, 4,044,495, Aug. 30, 1977; Device for Capturing Cockroaches; Hall, 4,208,828, June 24, 1980, Roach Trap; Carlsen, 4,316,344, Feb. 23, 1982, Roach Trap.
The present invention was conceived of to provide a pet food dish having integral insect-trapping means and a design maximizing its usefulness to the pet owner.